AFL great Joel Selwood could be a surprising inclusion in Australia’s Ashes tour party as ‘Geelong mate’ Andrew McDonald approaches the Cats hero for a coaching role
- Joel Selwood is in talks with Cricket Australia over a coaching role
- The four-time premiership winner called time on his AFL career last year
- Selwood has since joined the Melbourne Storm as a leadership coach this season.
Geelong hero Joel Selwood could be a surprising inclusion in Australia’s cricket squad for the upcoming Ashes series in England this winter.
The four-time top-place winner is in talks with Cricket Australia about joining forces with Test coach Andrew McDonald as the Aussies look to win a series in England for the first time in 22 years.
“We’re going abroad in the middle of the year,” Selwood said. 7NEWS.
It will be when the boys play in the Ashes.
‘Andrew McDonald’s is a local Geelong guy and has been in contact for a period of time.
Geelong presidency hero Joel Selwood could be up for a role with Cricket Australia
Selwood has been in talks with Australia Test Coach Andrew McDonald about the possibility of joining the team in a coaching capacity on this winter’s Ashes tour.
They are probably in a similar position to the Cats. They have a lot of guys who are coming to the end of their career and maybe they’ll find their way out in the next couple of years.
Selwood ended his 16-year AFL career like a fairy tale, retiring on winning his fourth flag as Geelong thrashed Sydney 20.13 (133) to 8.4 (52).
The 355-game veteran code-switched shortly after his retirement, joining the Melbourne Storm as their leadership coach.
“The NRL was probably never a sport that I thought I would get too mixed up in,” Selwood told Daily Mail Australia in December last year.
I have followed them to some extent, mainly when the big three [Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk] They were there and they put the Melbourne Storm on the map down here in a Melbourne market that is, of course, saturated by AFL.
‘When I met a couple of people there, one of them Frank Ponissi [the Storm general manager of football] and, of course, she couldn’t say no to a really impressive guy.
“They’ve just been an organization that’s been well run for a number of years, so that was the important thing.”
Now the 34-year-old, who recently welcomed his first child with wife Brit, looks set to cross over into sports again.
Australia begin their defense of the Ashes on June 16 at Edgbaston, before the series moves to Lord’s for the second Test.
The series then heads to Headingley, where the Aussies snatched defeat from the jaws of victory courtesy of the heroics of Ben Stokes in 2019, for the third Test before moving to Old Trafford.
Selwood joined the Melbourne Storm as their leadership coach this season
The fifth and final Test is scheduled to take place at the Oval, which will also host the World Test Championship final in June.
Australia have already guaranteed themselves a place in the final after notching a famous nine-wicket victory against India in Indore last week.
India will secure their place in the final if they beat the Australians in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad this week.
A draw or loss would leave India’s fate hanging on the outcome of Sri Lanka’s series in New Zealand later this month.